I am so totally going to go to this show. I know what you’re thinking: but Chris Harris the Purple Fool, this musics show is on a Saturday night! You won’t be able to go because you always perform at Fools Play on Saturday nights.

Well, you’re WRONG. Okay, you’re right about the fact that I’ll be performing at Fools Play this Saturday night. But this musics show doesn’t start until 10:00 PM, which just so happens to be when Fools Play ends! So I’ll be peforming at Fools Play and then booking it the two or three blocks up the street to Le Voyeur to watch some musics happen in front of my very eyes and earses!

Originally The Old Salt was going to be a part of WINDOWSNINETYFIVESECONDEDITION’s set, but I believe he’s going to have to miss it because he’ll be up in Bellingham being naked onstage in a play. You know how it is.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Ho boy, folks, this Friday you’ve got a freakishly difficult decision to make. There are TWO COUNT ‘EM TWO excellent music shows happening in Seattle, both of which are just chock full of my musician friends. But they’re at the same time in two different venues! Gasp! You can only go to one! BUT WHICH ONE!? Let’s take a look:

DECISIONS DECISIONS

Well, it looks like Carrie & I are going to be going to the Columbia City Theater show. Why? Because as much as we love the people involved in the Josephine show, that venue frankly frightens us. See, we are old. And the fancy, comfortable, highly-professional Columbia City Theater makes us feel relaxed and safe. Whereas the underground, DIY, this-is-just-someone’s-garage, punk-kids vibe of the Josephine is not terribly attractive. We’re too old for that sh*t.

But that doesn’t mean you are! Whichever show you choose, you’re sure to hear some great effing musics. So choose one! Choosing neither is NOT AN OPTION!

Friday, 25 October 2013

Tangentbot, Three Ninjas, & The Old Salt LIVE! Artwork by Jamie of Modest Comics.

This is a good chance for Seattle peeps to go see some good musics. I recently saw both Three Ninjas and The Old Salt down in Olympia, and that was a good-time show. I haven’t actually seen †∆ϞǤΣƝϯßθ† live in quite a long while; he’s progressed from his older beep-boop music into a darker, more “witch-house” style. It’d be interesting to see.

The show is at The Josephine, which is a strange music venue that is basically just someone’s garage. It’s also BYOB.

Unfortunately the chance of me being able to make this show is almost surely zero, what with wee beb et al. BUT YOU SHOULDST GO!

Sunday, 10 July 2011

After his appearance on the Today Show, that TV show 20/20 flew him back to New York to interview him. And they lubbed him so much they actually agreed to fly a film crew out to Seattle to film him performing his musics as Three Ninjas.

Busdriver started his set with a very cool visual effect: all the lights were off, but he had a blacklight that also emitted lasers in such a way that they made a starfield on the background. Then he stood in front of the blacklight and starfield wearing all white. He made Tangentbot very happy by rapping over an Aphex Twin song for his encore.

Two of the opening acts were women hip-hop artists, Night Fox and Katie Kate. They were both very good, though I kinda liked Night Fox’s energy a little more. They were unlike many women hip-hop artists that I’m used to, in that they weren’t full of “even tougher than a man” bravado (even though there was a fair share of cussing). Night Fox’s voice periodically had an almost-Billie-Holliday warble in it, and at times sounded like an American Miho Hatori. Plus she was tiny and kinda adorable. Katie Kate was a much more polished performer and technical musician — I learned later that she’s a classically-trained pianist and graduated from Cornish with a music degree! Anyway, the point is they had a really fascinating style of hip-hop. I almost want to call it “Cutesy Hip-Hop” but that sound a little degrading. The point is, it was fun and inviting instead of angry and aggressive.

As for the Chop Suey show the next week, Threeni & T-Bo (as they will now be referred to in the rest of this post because it sounds awful) were the opening act for the Fake Four tour, which is the same tour that Open Mike Eagle opened for last year. Good company! And Carrie actually got to come with me because for once she didn’t have to teach on a night where there was an awesome music show!

They completely killed their set. The highlight of the whole night was when Threeni and T-Bo performed an absolutely epic cover of Jewel’s “Foolish Games.” For realsz! Ch-ch-check it out!

Like what you heard there? About to commit seppuku because you missed it? Stay your blade, I say! For Three Ninjas & Tangentbot will be performing a Mardi Gras party at the Skylark Café on Tuesday the 8th! THAT’S TOMORROW, HOMESLICE!

Carrie & I didn’t stay for the whole show because:

We live in Tacoma

I had to be at work at 8:00 the next morning

We’re old

But another excellent act that we got to see was Abadawn, a rapper with an extremely young countenance (he looked like he was 15) and a fascinating style. He had two vocalizations: a hip-hop voice that had inflections and flow that reminded me somewhat of Eminem, and a full-on death-metal screech/growl voice. He switched freely between them. Also, his songs were short, which I really appreciated (a couple were only like 45 seconds long, I swear). They were like a little nugget burst of energy, like a hip-hop haiku of rage.

Whew! That’s a whole lot of my friends putting out a whole lot of musics! It’s very inspiring, and I really want to join them before 2010 is out. I have fancy plans, and pants to match. Let’s see if I can do it, eh?

Thursday, 19 November 2009

One thing you might not know about me is that I don’t listen to a lot of music, by which I mean I tend to focus on a small selection of music and then listen to it over and over and over again.

One of the things I do is I make Mix CDs that I listen to while I’m driving around—to and from work, to and from Fools Play, etc. Thing is, I only make one Mix CD about every three months and that’ll be pretty much all that I’ll listen to until I make another one.

Traditionally I go iTunes and organize my music by most recently added, then start pulling the best songs over to a new playlist as I work my way back in time through my music collection. This way my Mix CDs tend to have a handful of songs that I’ve acquired recently. I also try not to put in too many songs that were in my previous Mix CD. But I don’t add much music to my collection very often, so doing it that way only fills up a portion of the CD. So then I delve into my list of all-time most listenable songs. Y’know, the songs that I don’t really ever get tired of listening to (the playlist that I call “Ultimate Flawless Victory” in iTunes) and toss in a few of those. Then I look at all of the songs in my collection that I’ve given four or five stars and toss in a few of those.

These Mix CDs are both reflective and projective. I try to incorporate how my musical tastes have changed over the past three months while at the same time trying to predict what I’ll want to listen to for the next three months.

Here are the last two CDs I created:

August 2009:

Always Been There Anyway – Julia Massey

Around the Bend – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour

Brain Problem Situation – They Might Be Giants

Buddy Holly – Weezer

Cellars by Starlight – Kay Hanley

Golden Blunders – The Posies

Good Fish – Julia Massey

Have a F*****g Baby – Three Ninjas

Headphones on Your Heart – Leeni

House of Mayors – John linnell

The Last Thing On Your Mind – Lights

Little Fighter X – Fighter X

Lollipop – Mika

Lovebite – Order of the Crimson Wizard

Me + Yr Daughter – Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head

Over and Over – Leeni

Red Underwears – Three Ninjas

Say It Ain’t So – Weezer

Shut Up and Let Me Go – The Ting Tings

Soft Rocked By Me – Jonathan Coulton

Somewhere on This Couch – The Crazy Boy Floyds

The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson

You Don’t Know Me – Ben Folds (featuring Regina Spektor)

November 2009 (there is one repeat song from the August CD—see if you can spot it)

Dance, Dance, Dance – Lykke Li

Dirt Bike – They Might Be Giants

Doll Partz – Order of the Crimson Wizard

Heading Out at Dawn – Terrapin Productions

Jenny Towner – Julia Massey

Los Angeles – They Might Be Giants

Mario’s Café – Saint Etienne

Powers – Three Ninjas

Pride & Strawberry Wine – The Wastelanders

A Quiet Room – Tangentbot

Secret Skin – Busdriver

Spin Around – Josie & The Pussycats

Stairs – Locust Street Taxi

Starry Eyed Surprise – Oakenfold

Stop – Spice Girls

Sun Shower – Busdriver

Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus

Theme from “Greatest American Hero” – Joey Scarbury

True Affection – The Blow

Ugly Girl – Fleming & John

Vancouver – They Might Be Giants

Veronica – Elvis Costello

The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson

What’s Golden – Jurassic 5

Your Love Is a Drug – Puffy AmiYumi

I have no idea what these songs say about me, so feel free to psychoanalyze me to your hearts’ content based solely on the content of these lists. Enjoy!